Groves Perry - Perry Groves football heroes: twenty of the greatest goal-scorers, hardest tacklers and biggest rogues ever to grace the game

T he best piece of advice I ever heard from a footballer came from Bobby Moore, one of the greatest players ever. He was a living legend who will always be remembered as captain of the World Cup-winning side of 1966: handsome, clean-cut, immaculate, the first golden boy of English football.

I had just left Colchester United for Arsenal and I was in awe of him. Everything he said is still lodged in my memory all these years later. And what were those words from a man with an encyclopaedic knowledge of football and of life? He said, Never refuse a drink, because therell come a day when nobody wants to buy you one.

And there was more. Make sure you drink in halves, not pints. If youre seen knocking back pints, people think youre pissed. If its halves, they think youre a professional. How very profound. Ive never forgotten those words.

I never tire of telling this story because it shows that he wasnt just a great player, he was a proper geezer too. Everybody said that Bobby Moore had no pace. He couldnt head the ball either. Come to think of it, his left foot was nothing to talk about. Apart from that, he had everything.

Geoff Hurst, who knew him better than most, observed, People said that he wasnt particularly good in the air, but nobody outran him and nobody outjumped him. He was able to read the game at the back like nobody else.

If you look at a picture of Bobby Moore as England captain handing over a pennant to his rival skipper before kick-off and then one of him walking off 90 minutes later, he looked exactly the same. It was as if he hadnt been in a game. His barnet was never ruffled, he didnt seem to attract mud to his body or kit, and heaven forbid that he had broken into a sweat at any stage.

After climbing the Wembley stairs to collect the World Cup trophy from the Queen after two hours in the boiling sun playing the Germans, he even found time to pause and wipe his hands on his shorts and the velvet draping in the Royal Box before collecting his medal. He obviously didnt want to have sticky palms when he shook her hand class but the big surprise was that he must actually have been sweating at some point during that hot July afternoon.

Minutes later, he was hoisted aloft on the shoulders of Geoff Hurst and Ray Wilson and, with the trophy firmly in his grip, his picture was taken in an image that is as instantly recognisable today as it was in the week of that victory. That image up there on his mates shoulders in a moment of victory should have been the one that most people remember of Bobby Moore, but four years later there was an even more memorable photograph that captured the essence of the man.

This time it was after a defeat, the 10 loss to Brazil in the Mexico World Cup, a game that everyone who saw it still regards as one of the finest ever.

I was just a toddler and the big thing about the tournament wasnt just that it gave us the Brazilian side of 1970 often named as the best team ever but also that it was being televised in colour. To this day I can remember how exciting it was to watch. And after that match Bobby Moore stripped to the waist and shook hands with Pele as they swapped shirts.

Moore looked like a Scandinavian film star, and Pele was as black as mahogany. The smiles of respect for each other on their faces as they shook hands is one of the enduring images of sport. I dont think Peles English was very good at that time and Im pretty sure that Bobby Moores Portuguese wasnt all that hot, but it was as if there was an international language between them: Youre a great player and Youre a great player too.

It was during this game that Bobby Moore made a tackle that seems to get more famous as the years pass. It even got a mention in the lyrics of Three Lions, the footballs coming home song. One of the finest players in that Brazilian team was their right-winger Jairzinho, who went on to become one of the few players to score in every round of a World Cup finals. Hed already given his side the lead and England were pressing for an equaliser and had loads of bodies in the Brazil half. The temperature was in the high 80s (30C) and when an England attack broke down we had hardly anyone in defence as the Brazilians broke away.